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I went to a community discussion several weeks ago in anticipation as of the DOMA decision announcement. And as we discussed gay rights abroad, gay rights at home, and the right to marry, among other things, one of the panelists reminded us that nothing was permanent. He pointed to the Roe v. Wade decision, a Supreme Court decision that was seen as a huge victory for women’s rights. Forty years later, and across the country legislation to restrict a woman’s ability to have an abortion is becoming increasingly popular, making Roe v. Wade practically irrelevant.

As the rest of the week unfurled, other historic events took place in the marble halls that house our federal government ranging from removing the protections of minority voter rights in the Supreme Court to immigration policy reform in the Senate. All of these momentous decisions will have direct impacts on our daily lives….eventually. What actually impacts us today didn’t even get discussed before Congress took off for their summer homes: student loan debt.

Caring about what happens in D.C., let alone our state capitals, is time consuming and often so depressing that it is just better to find more funny cat memes (guilty!) But, sparring with your Facebook frenemy over the role of government in our lives isn’t particularly helpful either. What happened to the book burning, thunderous protesting, in-your-face statements of how we feel about our government? Are we unknowingly living in scarily realistic version of the Hunger Games? Or is it that we have given up on the system before we even tried to change it?

I always think back on what a friend of mine said when John Mayer came out with “Waiting on the World to Change.” While I kept turning up the car radio whenever John’s magical voice would grace the speakers, my friend Amit would turn it down in disgust and say, “Why do we have to wait for change when we can make it happen now?”

As this is something I struggle with, what are the best ways to get involved in changing the world? How do you even pick which one to devote your time to?